Courage's Light
by Shara Raizel
Summary: You know the story - Seven young kids to go camp for the summer and wind up in Digiworld with their own Digimon companion only to later be joined by an eighth child and partner Digimon two/thirds of the way through their adventure. But what if something was different? What if Tai didn't go to camp that summer and Kari went instead? What would change? What would remain the same?


Hey guys! I am SO sorry. Yes, I know that this isn't a new chapter for UGotD, PW, DM or any of my other Digimon fics, and sadly I will not be able to post those today. I've been having a lot of computer troubles lately and sadly I have lost ALL of those chapter updates. ALL OF THEM! Even though I've been using Google Docs for all of my works for the last 3-4 years, it has the bad habit of not saving my docs when I'm not hooked up the the internet, even thought they're supposed to have backups or something if you have the google drive installed on your computer for offline saving (WHICH I HAVE). I've been without for most of the past month and have only recently gotten it back. I had rough drafts for all three of my main Digimon stories all written up, but my laptop decided it needed to auto update the moment I got internet back and every. single. doc. was. lost. I only have what I started with before I lost internet at the beginning of the month, which was basically and outline of what I wanted to happen that chapter. As you can imagine I've been really upset and didn't want to even look at my laptop to restart anything, knowing that a mad scramble to retype everything would only result in subpar and hurried posts (especially since my free time is limited with all my 12 hour shifts).

However, it is Odaiba Day and I really wanted to post something, as I have for the last 8 years.

So instead of posting a new chapter for one of my on-going stories, I'm posting the first of yet another new Digimon Story that I had been planing on releasing for Christmas. It's actually been ready for a while (hence why I'm able to post it with little to no tinkering), but I wanted to have a couple more chapters written/plotted before posting it. However, I didn't want to leave you guys hanging without anything for Odaiba Day so, here ya go!

It is the long awaited for (sort-of) rewrite of Light in the Place of Courage that I wrote many years ago with animepotterfan before we fell out of communication with each other. Courage's Light is my take on the "Kari and Tai switch places" AU idea, where instead of Kari being sick at the start of the season, Tai is instead. However, they are the same ages as they are in canon, so it isn't quite a complete role reversal. Tai is still the protective older brother and Kari is still the same sweet little sister we know and love. I hope you guys enjoy this. Updates will be slow (but when are they not?), but the more support this gets, the more likely I have to put it in rotation for updates.

I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON ADVENTURE OR ITS CHARACTERS!

* * *

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Jungle

Kari hefted her bag onto her shoulder as her mother began hurrying around the apartment looking for her car keys.

"Do you have everything you need sweetie?" Yuuko Kamiya asked.

"I think so," Kari said. "Are you sure Tai can't come, Mom?"

"He's running a high fever, Kari," her mother sighed. "I know you've been excited about going to summer camp with your brother for a long time, but I'm sure you'll have just as much of a good time without him. Sora will be there too, you know. I'm sure you two'll have a grand time together."

"I guess," Kari sighed, looking at the closed bedroom door where her older brother, Tai, was still sleeping, face flushed with fever.

"Ah! Here they are!" Yuuko cried triumphantly as she jingled the keys in her hand. "They were under the morning paper. Let's go, Kari. We don't want to be late."

"Yes, Mom," Kari said, following her mother out of the apartment.

"Have fun, Kari!" her dad shouted after her from where he was sitting on the couch in front of the TV.

"Bye, Dad!"

The car ride was a blur to Kari as she stared out the window worrying about Tai. Over the last year, her brother seemed to become more susceptible to illness. It really worried her how often he got sick these days. The doctors couldn't fathom a reason for it, saying that Tai was perfectly healthy and just chalked it up to her brother having a low immune system. Her parents didn't know what to do and Kari knew they were worried, because they'd started making Tai take daily vitamin supplements to help bolster his immune system. It had started after winter break when Tai came down with a really bad case of pneumonia.

Kari clenched her eyes shut and tried not to think about that time. Tai wasn't that sick. He only had a normal, nothing-to-worry-about summer cold.

"We're here," her mother said cheerily. "And look! There's Sora."

Kari looked up as she unbuckled her seatbelt and smiled upon seeing her brother's oldest and best friend, Sora Takenouchi, waiting off to the side apart from the other campers waiting in line by the buses.

"Hi, Sora!" Kari called out as she got out of the car and made her way to the older girl.

"Kari!" Sora said, waving, but her smile fell when she noticed that Kari was by herself. "Where's Tai?"

"He's home with a bad head cold," Yuuko informed Sora before handing Kari her bag. "I hope you girls have a good time. I know Kari's been looking forward to this for weeks."

Sora nodded, a pleasant smile appearing as she reassured the woman that she'd keep an eye on Kari. After that, the older girl led the way to a bus where Sora and Tai's teacher, Mr. Fujiyama, checked them in. They ended up taking seats in the middle of the bus. Kari looked at the kids around them as they laughed and chatted while waiting for the bus to depart. A group of girls were perhaps the loudest from where they were sitting near the front of the bus. Sora greeted an older boy wearing glasses as he took the seat in front of them. He seemed the nervous sort and kept to himself. A few rows in front of the older boy on the other side of the aisle were two blonde boys who appeared to be brothers. The older was telling the younger to sit down in his seat, which he was standing on to look at the kids in the rows behind them. The younger brother looked to be around Kari's age. Kari waved at him when he smiled at her.

The drive to camp was only about an hour and a half, but it took an additional two hours to get everyone sorted into their groups and set up their tents. Lucky for Kari, she and Sora were put in the same group with four other girls, including a pink loving girl wearing a cowboy hat called Mimi. The whole camp had lunch together before breaking off into groups again for various game activities that were meant to be icebreakers to help them get to know their fellow campers. Then they were given the rest of the afternoon to explore the camp and participate in some other activities. Sora and Kari elected to go hiking for a bit. Mimi joined them because she didn't want to do whatever it was that her other friends were doing.

They took their time going up hill to the shrine their camp counselor had told them about, enjoying the nice cool day. It was when they were nearing the top that they realized that others were there as well. Kari could see the two blonde brothers she'd seen on the bus exploring the edge of the woods off the path.

Then something crazy happened.

"Snow?" Sora gasped as a couple of snowflakes fell around them. "But it's the 1st of August!"

Then it was like the sky flipped a switch. The once cloudless bright blue sky was suddenly dark and grim. The temperature seemed to drop rapidly and snow began to dump out of the sky while the wind picked up and seemed to suck all the warmth out of the air. Kari shivered and Sora grabbed her arm.

"The tents are too far away, make for the shrine!" she cried.

Mimi and Kari only nodded, racing up the rest of the hill and into the shrine. Inside, Kari saw the two blondes, the older boy wearing glasses that Sora had greeted on the bus, and another boy who appeared to be typing away on a laptop computer.

"What is up with the weather?" the older blonde growled.

"I know!" glasses boy cried. "It's supposed to be summer! Why is it snowing?!"

"Let's all just remain calm," Sora said gently. "I'm sure it'll be over soon."

While they were waiting for the weather to settle, the group introduced themselves. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, an hour after the blizzard had started, the wind stopped howling and all was quiet outside. When they cracked open the door to the shrine they saw that it had stopped snowing as well. Kari gasped, staring at the pretty white coat of snow on the ground.

The younger blonde, TK, laughed excitedly and raced out.

"Hey, TK, be careful!" his brother Matt cried, darting out after him.

"Brr," Sora said, shivering as she and Kari stepped out after them. "It's freezing! And I didn't even bring a jacket."

"Neither did I," Kari sighed, but smiled as she felt the soft snow crunch lightly under her feet. She'd always liked the snow.

"Man," groaned Joe, the older boy wearing glasses. "I was worried about catching a summer cold, but this is even worse!"

"Oh wow!" Mimi cried as she came out. "Why didn't I pack my fluffy pink snow boots?"

"We should hurry back and find an adult," Joe said. "We shouldn't stay out here for long without proper clothing."

"Joe's right," Sora said. "Who knows if it's going to start snowing again. The sky's still overcast."

"Speaking of the sky, look up there," Matt said, pointing up.

Kari looked up and gasped in amazement. The sky was lit up in all sorts of rainbow colors.

"Hey! What's his name? Oh. Izzi! Hey, Izzi, you have to come see this!" Matt called out to the shrine, while holding onto TK.

Kari looked behind her and saw the computer kid come out, strapping his laptop bag onto his back as he stared up at the sky with them.

"It's beautiful! Magical even," Mimi cried.

"Yeah, but what is it?" Izzi asked, standing next to Sora and Kari.

"An aurora?" Sora guessed.

"That's impossible," Izzi protested. "You see that far up north in places like Alaska and Greenland. We're way too far south."

"Tell that to the snow," Sora sighed.

"I really think we should head inside before we all come down with pneumonia or something," Joe said, "Or at least head back and find the camp counselor."

Kari was suddenly really glad that her brother hadn't come on this trip. The snow might have gotten him really sick. ...Like last time.

"It wouldn't be cool if we all got sick," Matt sighed, "but at the same time, how can we miss this? The sky is, like, short circuiting."

"What's that?" Kari asked, spotting a green swirl of some kind up in the sky behind the pretty rainbow of lights.

Before any of the others could respond, some beams of light shot out of the colorful sky and came screaming down towards them, making big bangs as they impacted in the ground around them. Everyone was screaming and crying out in fear until things stopped falling from the sky. When the snow settled, Sora got up and asked if everyone was alright.

"We're still here," huffed Matt from where he was crouched over TK.

"That was scary," Mimi whimpered.

"W-what was it?" Joe gasped.

"Meteors?" Izzi guess as he edged towards a hole in the ground where one of the light things had impacted near him. "Ok, so it's not meteors," he corrected when a soft beam of light sprang from the hole and a silvery blue bubble began to hover in front of him. Similar lights and bubbles were popping up in front of the others as well.

Curiously, Kari reached out and grabbed hold of the one in front of her. The others did the same.

"What are these?" Sora asked, looking at the small gizmo in her hand.

"My guess is some sort of remote digital apparatus," Izzi mused, looking at the tiny device he held in his hand.

"No instructions?" Joe asked.

"Forget that, we've got bigger problems!" Kari cried as she heard a loud roaring sound come from somewhere in front of her before a tidal wave of water appeared out of nowhere and swept them all away. All Kari could remember was the sensation of falling and hearing everyone around her screaming before she blacked out.

* * *

"Hikari?" a soft voice called out to her. "Hello? Hikari?"

Kari groaned softly before opening her eyes… and came face to face with what looked like a large yellow face with fangs and big red eyes. Kari screamed as she scrambled back from the thing, shoving it off her chest.

"What are you?!" she cried.

Now that she had some distance from it, she saw that the creature that she'd awoken to looked like a yellow cat's head, complete with a purple striped tail.

"Hikari! You're finally awake! Thank goodness!" the cat-head thing said, squealing in delight, and began bouncing up and down in front of her. "Don't worry, I'm your friend!"

Kari stared at it as it bounced in excitement.

"It can talk," she muttered. "Just what are you? And how do you know my name?"

"Everything's going to be alright now, Hikari. I've been waiting for you!" the creature said before jumping into her arms.

Kari caught it automatically, no longer feeling scared of the thing. It was kind of cute actually.

"Waiting for me?" she repeated.

"I'm Nyaromon," the little creature said. "I'm your partner!"

"Nyaromon?" Kari mused. "Like the sound a cat makes when it meows?"

"Nya!" Nyaromon purred, nodding.

"So what did you mean when you said that you've been waiting for me? And how do you know my name?" Kari asked, curious.

"Kari?" someone asked warily.

Kari jumped, clutching Nyaromon close to her as she spun around and saw the Izzi boy standing by a tree looking around nervously.

"Izzi," Kari sighed, relieved to see a familiar face.

"Thank goodness," Izzi said. "I thought I was here by myself."

"What are you saying?" a high pitched voice asked as a small little pink… blob came waddling through the brush to stand beside Izzi. "I'm right here with you."

"Who are you?" Kari asked, walking up to the older boy and the pink thing with Nyaromon who seemed quite content to stay in her arms.

"Oh! Allow me to introduce myself," the pink thing said. "My friends call me Motimon. Everyone does actually."

"Nice to meet you," Kari said, bowing slightly in greeting. "My name is Hikari Kamiya, but you can call me Kari."

"Can I call you Kari too, Hikari?" Nyaromon asked.

"Sure," Kari said smiling.

"He's been following me since I woke up in this place," Izzi said, looking between Motimon and Nyaromon. "I believe those miniature remote digital gadgets have taken on an actual life form."

Izzi began to go on about some things with Motimon that Kari wasn't sure she understood, so she looked around at the strange forest they were in. It wasn't like any woods that she'd ever seen or heard of. She was pretty sure that some of the trees and plants belonged in a jungle.

"What is this place?" Kari asked.

"It's DigiWorld," Nyaromon said.

"And where's that?" Izzi asked.

"That is here."

Kari huffed. "And just where is here?"

"This is File Island," Motimon piped up.

"Right! File Island," Nyaromon cried.

Izzi and Kari traded confused looks before shrugging.

"We might as well look around and see if anyone else is here too," Izzi sighed.

"Alright," Kari said, following the older boy through the jungle. Before they got too far, however, Kari thought she heard a loud roar. "Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Izzi said, looking around nervously when they heard the roar again. "It sounds like it's getting closer."

Kari happened to look up just as a large red beetle looking creature flew overhead, cutting down a tree as it swooped by them. They all screamed as the tree came crashing down next to them.

"This is bad!" Motimon cried. "That's is seriously one bad Digimon, even when he's in a good mood! Kuwagamon is a really aggressive Digimon!"

"That's just great," Izzi gasped.

"Is everyone alright?" Kari asked.

Nyaromon and Motimon gave affirmative nods but Izzi was looking back up at the sky.

"Uh, guys, he's coming back this way again," the older boy cried.

"Oh dear, oh dear!" Motimon fretted. "Not good! Quickly, everyone, this way! Come on, this way!"

Kari and Izzi didn't hesitate, racing after Motimon. Nyaromon whimpered as she buried her face into Kari's chest. Kari clutched the little cat-head creature close to her as she ran, heart racing as she heard the roar of Kuwagamon getting louder and louder along with the sounds of the tops of trees getting lopped off and crashing to the ground behind them.

"Hurry up! For having two long legs, you two are awfully slow," Motimon criticized before coming to a stop in front of a massive tree. "Quickly, in here!" he said just before jumping _into_ the tree.

Izzi and Kari stopped short for a second before the boy grabbed Kari's arm and dragged her into the tree with him. The two stared around in amazement at the metal walls that now surrounded them.

"This place was camouflaged as a tree…," Izzi said in awe.

"What kind of tree is this?" Kari asked.

"It's a hiding tree, silly," Motimon said.

They heard the roar of Kuwagamon again, getting closer and closer. The small group huddled together, waiting with baited breath as the roar came and went. When they could no longer hear Kuwagamon, they slowly sat up cautiously, wondering if it was safe.

"All clear! It's ok to come out now, guys," Kari heard Sora's voice call out.

The four of them slowly walked through the wall and found Sora standing there waiting for them with a smile.

"Sora!" Kari cried, running forward to hug the older girl.

"That was pretty close," Sora said, hugging Kari back.

"I'll say," Kari laughed, pulling back, but then she looked down and saw a creature that reminded Kari of the flower bulbs her mother liked to plant, only this one was pink and had a bunch of little tentacles for feet instead of roots, and a blue flower sprouting up from it's head.

"I'm enchanted to meet you, friends of Sora," it - she - said.

"Kari, Izzi, meet Yokomon," Sara said, looking down at the creature. "My own personal something or other."

"Yokomon, huh?" Kari said, crouching down in front of the pink flowery Digimon. "Nice to meet you."

"It looks like a plant," Izzi commented. "But it must be another one, like the others. Whatever they are."

They all looked over at Motimon and Nyaromon, who sat a couple feet away, smiling up at them. Then another pink creature ran over and stopped in front of them. This one had four stubby legs, two streamers for ears, black eyes, and a mouth that reminded Kari of a rabbit, only instead of buck teeth, this creature had two tiny fangs.

Everyone gasped.

"They're popping up everywhere," Izzi said.

"Hello! I am Tokomon," the new creature said before looking back the way it had come and called out, "Over here, TK!"

"Coming!"

Kari and the others looked up and spotted TK and Matt heading their way. Matt was holding a strange creature under his arm. Unlike Yokomon, Motimon and Tokomon, the creature Matt was carrying was an orange head with a tan colored face and had a long grey horn sticking out of its forehead.

"Tokomon, there you are!" TK laughed, racing towards the little guy.

"TK!" Matt cried, a worried expression on his face.

"Hey, Matt," Sora called. "You too?"

"Sora. Yeah, I'm here too, and so are all of you, I see," Matt said.

"Ah, no," Sora said, "I meant that under your arm."

"Oh, this guy?" Matt said, looking down at the creature he was carrying. "Well…"

"Hello," the orange head said. "You appear pleasant. Tsunomon is my name and I am quite pleased to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you too," Kari said, smiling back.

"HELP!" they suddenly heard someone scream and turned in time to see Joe come running from the opposite direction Matt and TK had appeared. "GUYS!"

"Joe?" Sora gasped.

"Help me!" Joe cried. "There's this thing! This thing that won't leave me alone! It keeps following me!" The older boy came to a stop before them and hunched in on himself as he caught his breath.

"Hey! Who are you calling a thing?" a voice asked before a brownish grey creature appeared over Joe's shoulder, holding on with what appeared to be two fins. "I'm no stuffed animal. The name is Bukamon."

Joe screamed, flinching back from the creature, but that was hard to do when the little guy was perched firmly on his shoulder. He then looked at the others and Kari had to stifle a giggle. It was rude, and poor Joe was clearly freaked out by the creature.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Joe demanded. "Don't you see this creature hanging off me?"

Then Joe seemed to notice the other little creatures standing beside them.

"What are these things?!"

Bukamon let go of Joe and to Kari's surprise flew down to join the others.

"We're Digimon! Digital Monsters!" all of the little creatures exclaimed.

"Digital Monsters?" Matt repeated.

"Yes, Digimon!" they cried, giggling happily, then began to introduce themselves.

"It's a pleasure to meet each of you," Sora said and then proceeded to introduce herself, Kari and the others to the Digimon.

"Is that everyone?" Matt asked once introductions were complete.

"Wait…" Sora said, frowning as she looked around the group. "Aren't we missing someone?"

"Where's Mimi?" Kari asked, suddenly remembering the girl in pink she and Sora had met earlier that day. She'd been with them all when those strange things fell from the sky.

"Well, perhaps she's off picking flowers," Izzi said. "Or going on a nature hike, or-"

Izzi was cut off by a girl's high pitched scream. "Somebody help me!"

"Come on!" Sora cried, and the whole group hurried in the direction they'd heard the scream.

"Mimi?! Where are you?" Sora called out.

They'd just made it through the trees into a clearing and spotted Mimi running towards them. There was another plant Digimon with her, but unlike Yokomon, this one was green and had legs. It had two leaves sprouting from its head, instead of a flower.

"There she is!" Kari said.

Then they heard a familiar sounding roar and Kari gasped as that big red beetle monster suddenly flew above the tops of trees, knocking branches down as it flew over Mimi.

"It's Kuwagamon!" Izzi shouted, ducking with everyone else as Kuwagamon swooped overhead. Kari looked over to check on Mimi and was happy to see that she appeared alright as she dropped to her knees, catching her breath.

"Mimi are you alright?" the little green plant Digimon at Mimi's side asked.

"I think so," Mimi sighed.

"Don't worry, Tannemon's here to protect you," the Digimon said.

"It's ok now," Sora said and she kneeled beside the girl.

"Oh, Sora," Mimi said, voice shaky.

"It's coming back!" Matt shouted, and Kari looked up in time to see Kuwagamon swoop low into the jungle behind them, sections of trees flying up as the monster flew through them.

"Run!" Sora shouted, and just like that, everyone was back on their feet and fleeing through another stretch of jungle.

"Get down," Matt suddenly shouted and everyone dropped unquestioning just before Kari felt something fly over their heads, wind gusting over their backs.

"What's with that thing?" Joe asked. "Will this nightmare never end? What's going on with this place?!"

"Here he comes again!" Yokomon cried.

"We have to keep moving," Sora said, helping Kari to her feet.

"Yeah, come on, let's go!" Matt shouted.

Kari wasn't sure how far they ran, or how many times they'd had to drop to the ground in order to avoid an attack, but they were suddenly stopped in their tracks as they came to a dead end at a cliff that jutted off into the air. Kari hadn't even realized they'd been on a mountain.

Sora cautiously approached the edge and her head sank as she determined that there was no way down. "We can't go this way. We'll have to go back and find another way."

"Go back where?" Matt huffed, but just then the trees behind them began to crack and splinter.

Everyone screamed and raced forward to join Sora on the outcropping of cliff, dropping to the ground as Kuwagamon buzzed overhead. The monster did a loop in the air and came back at them, charging straight at Sora.

"Sora look out!" Kari cried fearfully as the monster beared down on her friend.

Then Yokomon jumped up and spat a stream of pink bubbles at it. They appeared to have distracted Kuwagamon and the bug Digimon veered away from Sora, but hit Yokomon in passing.

"Yokomon!" Sora cried as she raced over to the little Digimon.

Meanwhile, Kuwagamon righted himself in the air and sped towards Kari and the others. Kari screamed, eyes wide with fear as it got close. Then the other Digimon attacked, jumping away from Kari and the others, spitting their own streams of pink bubbles. Their attacks hit head on, like Yokomon's, sending the monster reeling into the smaller Digimon, but off course from the kids where he crashed into the trees and out of sight.

When Kari looked up from where she'd dropped to the ground she saw all of the little Digimon laying still along the cliff's ledge.

"Nyaromon!" Kari cried when she spotted her new friend and picked her up. "Are you alright."

Nyaromon didn't respond.

Kari could hear the others talking to their Digimon friends, even Joe who'd been so scared of Bukamon only a short while ago. Then she heard Kuwagamon roar and she felt fear grip her once more.

Kuwagamon lumbered out of the treeline again, the pincers on its mandible gnashing together ominously. Kari and several others screamed as they picked up their small friends and scrambled away, drawing close together near the cliff's edge.

"I was hoping we'd seen the last of him," Sora said, cradling Yokomon in her arms.

"Me too. I guess he had other plans, huh?" Matt huffed, gritting his teeth as he stood protectively by TK.

Kuwagamon roared as he slowly stomped his way closer and closer to them.

"Get ready to run," Sora said grimly, one arm around Yokomon and the other hand gripping Kari's shoulder tightly.

"No," Nyaromon said, waking in Kari's arms. "We'll all fight. It's the only way. I have to!"

"What are you talking about?" Kari said, alarmed as Nyaromon began squirming.

"No, Nyaromon is right," Motimon said, wiggling in Izzi's hands. "That's our purpose. It's time that we showed what we're made of!"

"No," Izzi stammered. "Don't."

"They're right," Yokomon said, looking up at Sora. "I'm going!"

"No way," Sora denied, shaking her head, letting Kari go to hold onto her new small friend, hoping she'd see sense. "It's hopeless. Even together, you can't fight that thing."

"But we have to!" Tsunomon cried, wriggling in Matt's hands trying to get loose. "We can do it! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!"

"Yes! Me too!" Tokomon snapped, turning in TK's arms to face Kuwagamon and the cute unassuming Digimon suddenly bared a lot of sharp pointy teeth. "We can do it! We can do it!"

"And me! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" shouted Bukamon, fins flapping as he tried to fly out of Joe's arms.

The only little Digimon not putting up a struggle was Tanemon. Mimi stared down fearfully at the little living plant and asked, "Tanemon… you too?"

Tanemon only nodded.

"I'm sorry, Kari," Nyaromon said before she managed to jump free from Kari's grasp. "Here I go!"

Then one by one the other little Digimon broke free from Sora and the others, following Nyaromon to face Kuwagamon. The giant red beetle monster roared as they charged.

"It's useless!" Sora called out. "Yokomon!"

"Don't go, Motimon!" Izzie yelled.

"No, wait!" Matt shouted. "Don't do it, Tsunomon!"

"Tokomon! Don't go!" TK cried.

"Turn around! Come back, Bukamon!" Joe pleaded.

"Tanemon, be careful!" Mimi entreated, being the only one not trying to stop the suicidal charge.

"No! Don't! Nyaromon come back!" Kari screamed.

Suddenly the device that had fallen from the sky back at camp lit up, shining from where Kari had clipped it on her lanyard with her camp whistle. Then a patch of sky overhead darkened and swirled ominously before beams of rainbow lights shot down and hit the little digimon, halting them in their charge. The light intensified and a moment later after a blinding flash, the little Digimon were gone, replaced by slightly larger creatures.

"What in the…" Sora gasped. "Look at them! What happened to the little guys?"

"They're bigger," Matt said, unnecessarily.

"Let's go!" shouted the pink bird that had replaced Yokomon.

Together the larger - but still small - Digimon attacked Kuwagamon, jumping and diving right at it. Kuwagamon merely swatted them away with it's two right arms.

"That's nothin! We're ok!" Nyaromon's new puppy form reassured Kari from where she landed a couple meters away from the girl.

Kuwagamon began fluttering its wings, trying to take off, but Mimi's grown plant friend shouted, "Poison Ivy!" and her purple fingers lashed out like vines and grabbed hold of the insect's foot, preventing it from flying away.

Tokomon could fly now and he flapped his bat-like wings to get high enough to launch his "Boom Bubble" attack, decking Kuwagamon on the top of its head.

Motimon was now a small red ladybug-like beetle insect thing and flew up and zapped Kuwagamon with his "Super Shocker."

Kuwagamon was forced to the ground where Bukamon's white and purple form slid and knocked a foot out from under it, brining Kuwagamon to a knee.

"Stand back everyone!" Nyaromon said and screamed "Puppy Howling!" at Kuwagamon, a wave of energy rushing forward and knocking the beetle's head back.

"Blue Blaster!" cried Tsunomon's much larger and also canine like form before he breathed a stream of blue fire.

Pink bird Yokomon was on his heels so to speak and squawked out a "Spiral Twister" before send a twisting blast of green flames at the enemy.

Both firary attacks hit Kuwagamon dead on in the head, setting it on fire. The group of smaller Digimon backed off and regrouped protectively in front of the kids. Kuwagamon threw its head back and roared angrily, the fire going out.

"Now all together!" grown up Tsunomon cried, all of them shouting their attacks once more before blasting Kuwagamon.

The concerted attack hit Kuwagamon in the chest, setting it ablaze. Kuwagamon let out another pain-filled roar before stumbling back and falling back into the treeline and out of sight. After a heart stopping beat, everything was quiet and the kids stared in awe. Then their transformed friends turned around and raced towards them, beaming happily as they called out to them.

"They did it?" Sora gasped.

"Awesome!" Kari shouted as she raced forward and hugged Nyaromon. "You were great! Good job!"

The others cheered and praised the efforts of their new friends too. But the mood was suddenly ruined when Kari heard Kuwagamon's roar again. She looked up, screaming in alarm when Kuwagamon lumbered out of the jungle _again_.

"Watch out!" Sora cried, just as its pincers stabbed down into the ground mere meters away from Kari.

"Looks like we celebrated too soon," Matt growled.

Kari scrambled back with Nyaromon, heart beating rapidly in her chest as the ground beneath them trembled and cracking sounds could be heard as the cliff they were standing on suddenly broke free from the ledge and sent them all tumbling down below.

* * *

What will happen to these seven children? Will they survive their fall? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

* * *

I realize that a lot of this chapter is direct from the first episode, but I hope I mixed things up enough to be enjoyable. I watched both the English and Japanese versions of the first episode for the dialogue and took a selection of both for this. A lot of Tai's lines were divided between Kari, Sora, Izzi and Matt. This will be a bit par for the course for most chapter in the beginning here as the DigiDestined progress through their first adventure (AKA the Devimon Arc) buy things will eventually start to shift and deviate from canon events the more we progress. I hope you guys are enjoyed the start of this fic. Happy Odaiba Day!


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